A concussion is a mild form of a traumatic brain injury (TBI). One in ten football players is diagnosed with a concussion each season and actual rate of concussion is much higher as an estimated five of six concussions go undiagnosed. Cumulative concussions increase the likelihood of permanent neurological disability by 39 percent.
Today's top-of-the-line football helmets are fitted with safety liners consisting of foam, compressible plastic modules, air filled chambers, or slip plane technologies. Present commercialized solutions have two major shortcomings. First, they do not adequately protect against angular acceleration, despite a strong consensus among researchers that sufficient angular acceleration is apt to result in a concussion. Second, most lack multi-hit durability. Foam rapidly loses its spring-back capability, air filled chambers constantly lose pressure, and slip plane technologies may frictionally degrade underlying layers.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for an impact protection and shock-absorbing device which does not have all of the shortfalls of current solutions and which incorporates a design to improve absorption and dispersion of compressive and/or shear forces.